“The interested and informed citizen can congratulate himself on his lofty state of interest and information and neglect to see that he has abstained from decision and action. In short, he takes his secondary contact with the world of political reality, his reading and listening and thinking, as a vicarious performance … He is concerned. He is informed. And he has all sorts of ideas as to what should be done. But, after he has gotten through his dinner and after he has listened to his favored radio programs and after he has read his second newspaper of the day, it is really time for bed.”

The worth of information is in what you do with it, the action that sprouts out of it. You’re not going to get quizzed afterwards. And if it’s really that important, someone will eventually tell you.

There’s so much noise that demands we turn our view outward. At the other person. External.

The noise demands that we give it the one thing we have least of – our most valuable asset: time.

While, if happiness depends most on what’s inside us: our thinking, inner peace, tranquillity – we should be doing the opposite of looking for more and more outward noise.

I don’t think what is called the work of the world – this everyday work – that gets glorified, I don’t think that it’s really so important.

I think it would be much much better if people were told to be lazy – to shake the job, to enjoy, to relax, not care, not worry. I think we would get all that work done in some other way.

We are creating this work – not because it has to be done – but because we are busybodies and we do not know how to swim on the river of life. And we prefer a kind of senseless insect-activity to a genuine activity which may often be no activity.

I don’t say to be quiet, to do nothing, I don’t say that at all. But I do say it should have sense, it should have meaning – what we do.

And the greater part of what we do everyday has damn little meaning.

Henry Miller, A Conversation With Henry Miller

This is also one of the reasons why I have discarded all the reading of productivity books. Reading these books is actually a paradoxical activity. It’s paranoia-inducing. These productivity gurus got it all wrong.

What they are about is fighting procrastination as if it were a bad thing. While procrastination is actually a good thing.

Procrastination is nature telling you that you don’t want to do this.

That’s why it should be used as a compass telling you that this thing you’re doing is not worthy of your time and you should get rid of it. It’s not essential. Not the other way around.